My patch at the beginning of August:
- planted out beetroot and silverbeet look like they might come good. Really desperately need more light.
- two batches of cabbages, cauli, broccoli planted out. We’ll see how they go when it gets hotter. I’ve planted the cucumbers between them and the summer afternoon sun. I was also thinking maybe I could put a shadecloth clothe over them come Sept/Oct
- Three cucumbers (maybe some of them are doubles). Couple have their first set of true leaves
- Couple of sugar snaps and snow peas. They’re potentially protected behind the cucumbers.
- Couple of different toms
- First batch of carrots showing all teeny tiny above the ground
- Batch of pak choy also showing themselves now.

Think that’s all I’ve got out there at the moment. This arvo planning to plant some more lettuce. The batch I planted with the pak choy didn’t come up. Going to try Pete’s seedling mix. Need to dig over the spare bed; dig in some cow poo; and sow the spuds and corn. I’m thinking of then just scattering the rest of my dubious seed around them. See what happens.

The Man has decided espaling (sp) citrus down the driveway fence is a good idea. Yeehaa! Even though it means work for him – digging out the rocks and clay so we can put in some decent soil. Still working on the trees at the end of the drive. I think he’s feeling a little left out of the veggies. He’s talking about growing corn where the lawn used to be. We’re not competitive or anything (not half) so can see this ending in tears!

Well, I’m off to recover from my socialite day yesterday. Need a nana nap.

sounds good.

You have certainly been busy SueBk. You will soon have so many fresh vegies.
I am thinking I might have to blanch and freeze some of my snake beans – they are so prolific at the moment.

Gee I shouldn’t have read all your going on’s in the garden Sue….. I’m now doubly tired and puffed after my play in the garden and your reads.

I must get some beetroot into the garden as well.

SueBk, which show was it again that talked about mirrors in the garden?
Trying to go back through the chat is like looking for a needle in a haystack!

I’m just popping in b/w visitors.

I’ve just finished blowing the leaves away with the blower and the carport looks like it did when I started!
SueBk this is just to lessen your homesickness by reminding you of the constant wind in the Dry, the LEAVES, which I love and are great mulch …. and the DUST.

Crinkle said:

I’ve just finished blowing the leaves away with the blower and the carport looks like it did when I started!
SueBk this is just to lessen your homesickness by reminding you of the constant wind in the Dry, the LEAVES, which I love and are great mulch …. and the DUST.

Nope. Nothing doing Crinkle. We get the westerlies here in winter and they’re COLD. I do remember thinking the dry season winds were cold. Rugged up in stockings and jumpers before school.

From memory it was episode 19 that had the feature about mirrors.

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

I’ve just finished blowing the leaves away with the blower and the carport looks like it did when I started!
SueBk this is just to lessen your homesickness by reminding you of the constant wind in the Dry, the LEAVES, which I love and are great mulch …. and the DUST.

Nope. Nothing doing Crinkle. We get the westerlies here in winter and they’re COLD. I do remember thinking the dry season winds were cold. Rugged up in stockings and jumpers before school.

From memory it was episode 19 that had the feature about mirrors.

Do you mean you wore stocking up here?
Thanks for the episode number.

Think I got myself excited LOL. Went out and edged my top garden. Hmmm, just realised I haven’t photoed that. Mattocked over it (gosh darn but that’s hard work), added handfuls of B&B, urea, fertiliser, Pete’s B, and a wheelbarrrow of manure. It needs HEAPS more done to it, but this is my fallow area this year LOL. Scattered my mixed seed and then rakes. STOOPID seed – wouldn’t bury. Had to got through and hand bury most of the larger things.

Dug holes out and filled with Pete’s Magic Seedling mix. Planted watermelons and zucchinis. Planted more than I need; but if there’s some weaker seedlings it won’t matter.

Planted some more lettuce – direct sow, but again in Pete’s mix.

Planted some corn (thought I’d get the seedlings started and then let The Man take over; reduce the competition); more leeks and celery. All in the hot house in Pete’s mix.

And took photos of all my veg:-) Will try and get them up later.

And I cleaned out my hot house come gardening shed. Tossed some junk. There’s a crate in the garage of misc gardening bits, so tossed a heap of stuff I don’t need in there. Just kept the important bits handy.

Crinkle said:

Do you mean you wore stocking up here?
Thanks for the episode number.

Yeah. I was young and crazy ;) Don’t wear the horrors anymore. Not ever, for no-one. Every time I want some for the garden I’ve got to go and buy them.

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Crinkle said:

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Do you have a podcast program? I have i-tunes (which is a freebie download). I subscribed to the GA vodcast. Every time I open i-tunes it checks if there’s new episodes, and my settings ensure they’re kept on the puter for me to go back through.

I’d offer to send it to you, but I just checked and it would seem that updating our puter lost our files :-( BUGGER!

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Do you have a podcast program? I have i-tunes (which is a freebie download). I subscribed to the GA vodcast. Every time I open i-tunes it checks if there’s new episodes, and my settings ensure they’re kept on the puter for me to go back through.

I’d offer to send it to you, but I just checked and it would seem that updating our puter lost our files :-( BUGGER!

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/video/download.htm then find the episode you want to download.

Some photos from today:

From the top down:
Top bed – watermelon in the middle, zucchini in the lower right corner, beetroot and carrots in the tub.
Brassica patch – cabbages (are they brassicas?), broccoli & caulis
Garlic
Herbs – going great guns. Got a parsley that’s got really fuzzy leaves and then when they get older they grow huge and flatten out. Is this normal parsley?
Whole no dig – with labels to see where things are

There’s close up (if you’re at all interested) in my album and the multi crop photos (ie the no dig) are tagged.
suebk photobucket

veg gardener said:

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Do you have a podcast program? I have i-tunes (which is a freebie download). I subscribed to the GA vodcast. Every time I open i-tunes it checks if there’s new episodes, and my settings ensure they’re kept on the puter for me to go back through.

I’d offer to send it to you, but I just checked and it would seem that updating our puter lost our files :-( BUGGER!

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/video/download.htm then find the episode you want to download.

Thanx to both of you. Hopefully I’ll work it out from this.

looks good due.

Crinkle said:

veg gardener said:

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Do you have a podcast program? I have i-tunes (which is a freebie download). I subscribed to the GA vodcast. Every time I open i-tunes it checks if there’s new episodes, and my settings ensure they’re kept on the puter for me to go back through.

I’d offer to send it to you, but I just checked and it would seem that updating our puter lost our files :-( BUGGER!

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/video/download.htm then find the episode you want to download.

Thanx to both of you. Hopefully I’ll work it out from this.

its ok.

Going to try Pete’s seedling mix.
——————————————
actually – are you referring to Aquarium’s bentonite mix?
your seed planting is very exciting – you tropical gardening girl you. i’m glad to hear the old man is getting stuck into the side bed as well.
here’s hoping for a terrific harvest.

pepe said:

Going to try Pete’s seedling mix.
——————————————
actually – are you referring to Aquarium’s bentonite mix?
your seed planting is very exciting – you tropical gardening girl you. i’m glad to hear the old man is getting stuck into the side bed as well.
here’s hoping for a terrific harvest.

Why is that your fingers can type something totally different to what you’re thinking? I meant PEPE’s seedling mix, which is Aquarium’s mix; but I couldn’t remember the heritage :) And Pepe is easier to type than Aquarium; except when you type Pete instead. Sheesh.

The Man has traditionally been our veg gardener. I don’t like hard work, and I don’t like dirt under my nails. But having studied sustainability I’m convinced that small things matter, and growing your veg isn’t actually all that small a thing – when you add up all the travel carbon and such. So, I’m guessing The Man is feeling a bit “left out”.

His version of a vegie patch; however, has been to chuck a whole packet of seeds into whatever ground there is, and water until they start fruiting, then get sidetracked. No soil conditioning, no fertiliser, no nothing – existing soil, seeds, water. That’s the blooming lot. LOL.

The sidetracked thing isn’t always a bad thing. When you’ve got a dozen tomato plants, you almost need them die before they produce their full potential – otherwise you’d drown in them. He also normally only plants one or two things. Tomatoes; I know he tried corn one year (Perth sand, no additives – no corn). Actually can’t think of anything else.

He’s been making comments about my ‘expensive’ garden. Given that our soil is super leached I have spent a bit on manure, bark, lucerne, B&B, lime, bentonite, etc. But, I figure, if I don’t put stuff into it, I simply am not going to get anything out of it. Might as well chuck all my seeds into the chook run and see what happens ;)

But, I figure, if I don’t put stuff into it, I simply am not going to get anything out of it. Might as well chuck all my seeds into the chook run and see what happens
———————————————————
you’re right of course regarding fertiliser. my wife’s a bit the same – thinking the garden is expensive.
wait until the produce is coming in – that quickly converts skeptics.

Crinkle said:

veg gardener said:

SueBk said:

Crinkle said:

SueBk, I found the transcript for episode 19 but is there a way of replaying the show?

Do you have a podcast program? I have i-tunes (which is a freebie download). I subscribed to the GA vodcast. Every time I open i-tunes it checks if there’s new episodes, and my settings ensure they’re kept on the puter for me to go back through.

I’d offer to send it to you, but I just checked and it would seem that updating our puter lost our files :-( BUGGER!

http://www.abc.net.au/gardening/video/download.htm then find the episode you want to download.

Thanx to both of you. Hopefully I’ll work it out from this.

Thanx vg I found it and have seen it.

I was planning on photographing the patch this afternoon, but its my day to water with the hose (only the one day a week), and everything’s looking a little ‘flat’ at the moment. I nitrogened all the leafy things and potassium’ed the fruiting things, and seasoled the whole lot.

I think the sun has moved enough in the last week or two to get an extra hour or few on the patch, which is good. Things are starting to fill out the space, which is also nice. I have five pea plants, three of which have tendrils holding onto the frame (yay); a couple of cabbages and broccoli that are doing really well; and a couple plus caulis that look like they haven’t grown since I planted them. Same with the cucumbers. I think they weren’t getting sufficient water. I’ve altered my gravity feed to guide water closer to the action.

My pak choy are going great guns, and the silverbeet is starting to pick up too. My first batch of beetroot have all got new leaves; and so have my first batch of carrots. My second batch of carrots are just peaking up through the ground. My second batch of silverbeet and beetroot aren’t doing too well. I basically ignored the seedlings (bad mummy).

My lettuce (new packet) never appeared. Not sure what the story is there. Not having a lot of success with lettuce.

Just planted some potatoes ah-lah Josh style. I watched the show this afternoon and thought “HEY, I’ve got all that stuff”. I planted three spuds. I have another three, but making that darn chicken wire ring is hard work. Stoopid stuff catches on itself and bites when you’re not looking. Might be a “later in the week” project.

I was going to buy bean seeds and then I realised that I keep buying ‘hardware’ seeds, and I’ve paid for a 12 month membership of Diggers. Tonight I’m going to work out what seeds I need for the next 6 months and order them all at once.

And I think that’s it for my garden this week. I’m very happy that its actually starting to look like a veggie patch.

And I think that’s it for my garden this week. I’m very happy that its actually starting to look like a veggie patch.
——-
so are we all happy for you.
i made some chicken wire cages by rolling the wire around a 44 gallon drum. i agree its a lousy job and all that wire twisting is bound to give ya a few cuts as well.

Your vegies sound as though they’re doing really well, Sue, isn’t it great when you see the results of your labour ? :)

Some piccies from yesterday. Everything looking a little flat ‘cause I just watered with a hose!! First time I’ve used the hose in about 5 years. Almost tripped myself up several times. Stoopid things really.

Potatoe cage




Herbs; with garlic poking up right down the end




Carrots, first row obvious; second planting is there, just can’t see them with the camera yet.





Beetroot. Probably can’t see them, but they all have new leaves :)




Pak choy, showing quite different growth rates considering they were all planted together. Think I might have to thin these at some point?




Silverbeet; looking rather flat




Cucumber showing funny white edges on the leaves





Brassica patch – cabbages, broccoli and caulis; can’t tell you which is which without going outside to check




Peas – both snow peas and sugar snaps




Strawberries. The one on the lower right hand side has funny coloured leaves. Any ideas?

they are looking alright despite the heavy watering.
you are picking parsley already. yummo – parsley, almonds and cheese make a great topping for pasta dishes when chopped together in the food processor.
give the beetroot a diluted seaweed drink.
cut off the infected leaves of the strawbs.
congrats – looks like its thriving.

give the beetroot a diluted seaweed drink.
——————————
correction – give the cucumber a diluted seaweed drink.